Top Nav

Study: Network News Spinning Gun Control Debate

(CNSNews.com) - Network television news programs are giving gun control advocates added ammunition in their battle for more restrictive anti-gun legislation, according to a new report released today.

The two-year, in-depth study of network newscasts was conducted by the Media Research Center, parent organization of CNSNews.com.

Pro-firearm advocates are "outgunned" by gun-control advocates who have the networks on their side spinning the debate, according to the report.

The analysis covered 653 morning and evening news stories on ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC and found that news programs are more than twice as likely to feature guests and use sound-bites from those advocating stricter gun control.

According to the study, reporters often ignore successful efforts to control the criminal use of guns, such as the highly touted Project Exile program in Richmond, Virginia, a cooperative effort between local, state and federal officials to prosecute criminals using gun in the commissions of a crime.

The study was conducted by MRC's senior analyst Geoffrey Dickens, who said pro-firearm positions were rarely exhibited in the newscasts.

Dickens recommends that networks present "more debates and fewer lectures, take time to explore pro-gun themes in an effort to balance their anti-gun tilt, and provide factual context instead of emotional anecdotes to let viewers make up their own minds."

"Over the last four years, network reporters and producers have been scaring their viewers with a bleak picture of an America under the gun," the report concludes. "In their search for an antidote to what they've termed an 'epidemic,' more often than not they've offered gun control as the cure to the problem."